dawn's knitting

July 31, 2010

I've only managed three out of the seven goals for July, but that's not a bad thing, I've been knitting, just not so much on the things I planned on knitting.

The successes:

Finish Bea, my
seventh garment for IntSweMoDo2010. Done!

Cast on my seventh shawl for 10shawls2010. Done! I managed to surpass myself and get it finished too! Manon shawl.

Get another shawl on the needles, number eight. Started, it's Baltic Blossoms by Evelyn Clarke.

The failures;

Start and finish the eighth garment for
Intswemodo2010.. It's Peace, by Kim Hargreaves, and it's not finished. BUT I finished the knitting off last night, 30th July. Nearly there.

Start the ninth garment for IntSweMoDo20101 I didn't finish Peace, so I haven't even thought of the next one, yet.

Cast on
and finish another pair of socks, just plain ones. More Lorna's Laces,
in Bee. One sock down, one to go. I concentrated on Peace as my commuting knitting (because I was too busy at home doing other knitting)

That's six things. The seventh was to finish Marvels of the Sunless Seas, but I ran out of yarn and had to order more. This was delayed because I needed to pay Customs and Excise a little fee :( However ... the landed htis week, I spent Wednesday knitting the border and have just this minute finished! I've sewn in most of the ends, except for the ones I didn't notice in my rush to get it done No proper piccies yet, it needs blocking, but here's a teaser.

It is sooo good to get this finished! The edging took forever! i hope to get it blocked in the next few weeks. This is my seventh finished shawl for 10 shawls in 2010.

In addition, I've started a few other projects.

This lace kal, from ravelry. I've been meaning to start this since I found out about it, but it was only when I saw it knitted that I had the motivation to start. I've finished Feburary now, just need to get photos.

July 28, 2010

I seem to be obsessed with crochet! I spent all of Friday evening and Saturday crocheting little circles and then making hexagons. On Sunday I had to hide the crochet, so that I could do some knitting!

These are my circles from Friday and Saturday (taken again with the mobile at night!)

And here's the hexagons so far.

Many thanks to my knitting friend Jill for providing more handknit cotton - I reckon I should be able to make a huge blanket now! Jill's doing a crochet blanket too, she can confirm how addictive it is!

I think I shall try to work on this one evening per week, maybe two. I have so many knitting projects on the go which I also want to work on.

As you can see, I've decided on joining as you go, and working that final round in random colours, rather than just one main colour. I do like the look of the circles floating against a background, but I've gone for a haphazard look. It's very bright! I have removed one hexagon, ,which had a dark leaf green colour; it just didn't fit in with the rest, looked a bit Christmassy to me.

July 25, 2010

I think this works well with the silk, gives it a gleam, showing off the ruched bands.

This is my sixth shawl for 10shawls2010 (with another two, possibly three on the needles) so I'm doing well. We have to knit at least two with a yardage over 500yds, so this qualifies, though it hardly feels like a 'big' shawl.

I'm afraid my photographer took himself off early today to the boat, to do essential maintenence (varnishing) whilst there is no rain, so there's only ground shots this time! My efforts aren't much better, it's a bit skewed! (I blame the dayligt; couldn't see the viewer!)

July 23, 2010

When I was a small child we learnt knitting at school. I'd probably have been about seven or eight at the time. I was the slowest knitter, ever, and my green garter stitch square was full of holes .We didn't learn crochet though. I was taught to crochet by my grandmother, who used to just love doing that granny square look - hot water bottle covers and blankets mainly. This was in the sixties, when blankets were the norm as bed coverings, with the odd eiderdown thrown in. My mother couldn't crochet, she used to knit. So I had my mother telling me to knit, my grandmother telling me to crochet! I preferred knitting, mainly because I wasn't interested in blankets and didn't like the crochet garments which were fashionable at the time.

I had a brief love affair with crochet in the early eighties, when one of the yarn companies brought out a trendy booklet with about six patterns in, I loved them all, made them all. They were never right though, my crochet tension is just rubbish! I'm a slack crocheter! But I really seem to want to crochet a blanket at the moment. In fact, I really want to start several blankets, but I'm sticking to one for the moment. It's the hexagon blanket from Attic24. I do like bright colours, and had a stash of handknit cotton already sitting there, waiting.

Now that was taken with my camera, in the evening.

This next photo was taken wtih my new mobile phone! In the evening, no flash. I think it's quite good for a phone! this is the stash plus new stuff.

And this is the progress so far. I dithered over the joining method. Did I want to join as I went? Or wait until all the inner circles are finished? I spent most of last night practising joining. I tried sewing, crocheting and doing a chain stitch join (not sure what it's called, where you veer from one edge to the other with a couple fo chains in between). I decided that I'd put off the joining forever unless I joined as I go. it's not the neatest join, and has holes as you only join after each treble cluster thingie, and it means you can't plan the layout, but it means I don't have to do it all at the end. (I know I could have a joining session every so often, but I'd put it off). As the circles/hexagons are a bit holey anyway I don't think this sort of joining as you go matters too much. And the blanket's for me.

Another mobile shot, a daylight shot but indoors at 7am this morning.

Of course now I'm dithering again. I'm thinking that I might like to do the outer round in once colour! That pale green! I've seen a few on ravelry which are done this way and it sort of looks quite cool having circles floating around. The join wouldn't be as obvious although it shows up more as texture lines. Hmm, what to do? I like both versions. It would mean buying more green, too. I have some circles done, and may have a little practice tonight, to see which version I prefer. Some ravellers have also done that final round in dc, not tr, so the circles are closer together. Decisions, decisions! And I ought to be knitting, getting a grip on the wips.

July 18, 2010

I've so many things on the needles that I haven't made much progress on any of them!

I finished Manon, tried to take some photos of it draped on the ground, and they looked terrible. I'm going to have another go next weekend, in better light. But here's a close up of the pattern, and the shawl's lilac, not blue!

Finishing Manon means that I feel marginally better about starting a few more shawls!

Here's Baltic Blossoms. It's Zephyr, a wool silk blend. The main body of the shawl is a very easy 8 row lace pattern, with only four rows to memorise, as the returning rows are just purls.

The 2010 lace kalender has finally been started! It's been on my wishlist for several months, since hearing about this via a knitting group. I managed to see this in progress this week, and that was that, I've cast on and knitted January's clue. A lot of catching up to do!

This is the same yarn as Beach Glass, I have lots!

I've also picked up Peace again, after a week's hiatus, and have started the left front. I'm still not enjoying knitting this! I think it's the dreaded moss sttich borders and the handknit dk.

and finally, some crochet, again inspired by the Putney knitting group!

I'm using Attic24's pattern. I'm also joining as I go. It's not something I've done before, and am in two minds about it. I like a solid join, this is joined after every 2tr. I'm sort of ok about it because the hexagon is quite open, so the open joins do fit in. My colour palette is a bit limited though, I want it to be more varied, so I shall have to go and buy more colours. This handknit dk had been hanging around for several years, in the hope I'll knit dishcloths, so it's great to be able to use it up. .

I think the last time I attempted to crochet a blanket was about 10 years ago!

July 16, 2010

All year I've managed to stick to under five wips, usually three wips. But give me a few days off work, a knitting group and I go mad! It's a mixture of more spare time (to stash dive and surf ravelry) and seeing everyone else's lovely knitting.

Last weekend I had just three things on the go - some plain socks, Marvels stole and Peace cardgan. I've had to order some yarn for Marvels, so that freed up knitting time for another quickie knit. I've chosen Manon, in some Anny Blatt sillk from stash . It's a relaxing knit, and the change from garter to stocking stitch and short rows means that it's not too boring.

I've since cast on two new things, ordered a few new shawl patterns and will do some crochet this weekend!

I've no photos of the new stuff yet. One is Baltic Blossoms, ravelry link here, in Zephyr, a teal blue. The main body of the shawl is a repeating lace pattern, very easy to memorise.

The second thing is a KAL lace sampler. It's a monthly KAL, and I've been meaning to start this for months now, but it was only when I saw it on the needles at the Putney knitting group that I was ennabled enough to cast on yesterday! I'm knitting it in the pale blue yarn I used for Beach Glass, which is a Joslyn's Fiber Farm laceweight. This will be another pleasant knit, though I have some catching up to do!

The crochet will be started this weekend, though I was so motivated that I dug out the Rowan Handknit DK this morning, at 7am! It was a toss up between handknit dk and baby cashmerino. Cotton won, as I have quite a good start already. 14 balls plus 4 odd balls. A great start!

Oh, and here's Manon. It's going well, and if I'm not too destracted by New Stuff then I may finish this off in the next few days!

I'm choosing to not think about the other two shawl and stole patterns I've ordered. Talk about startitis!

July 13, 2010

I finally picked up Marvels last week, and spent a whold evening and a weekend afternoon knitting on the border. I now have the border pattern memorised, which speeds it up loads. 40 border repeats, one corner to go. Here's the stole with 24 or so repeats.

And that's when I ran out of yarn! What a pain! I've had to order another skein from Blackberry Ridge. I just hope that they've either still some of the batch left, or the natural cream colour is consistant, otherwise I may have to hit the dye pot! Of course I wasn't going to order just one little skein of yarn, I quite fancied some of their wool silk blend, which I've used before, it's a heavy lace weight. How much? Which colour? Ravelry to the rescue! And a new shawl pattern to consider! Ene's scarf, now on my to-do list.

Meanwhile, twiddling my thumbs, I have pulled out stash yarn for new shawl projects. Too many!

This is seasilk and Habu, and will make lovely smaller shawls. I haven't
decided on which ones yet though!

Here's some Anny Blatt silk which has been maturing for several years (Yvonne and Polly may remember the yarn sale near Marble Arch).

The colour isn't one which I'd wear as a summer garment, but it's ideal for a Manon Shawl. And here it is. on the needles, simple knitting with a nice yarn. It's my current commuter knitting (just have to remember to take the two sizes of needles). This was taken in the evening, so the colour is as above, not as below!

July 08, 2010

Introducing Peace, by Kim Hargreaves. This is the eighth garment for IntSweMoDo2010. I can't believe it, and it's just July (and my list goes up rather than down, with the new season's magazines, and all the temptation on ravelry).

It was a bit of a shock going from wool cotton to handknit dk, it felt as if I was knitting with thick string and had to drop three needle sizes for the moss stitch bottom bit. That meant knitting this worsted weight cotton on 3mm, not fun, but my knitting looked so loose. I'm knitting the stocking stitch bit on 3.5mm, instead of the recommended 4mm, but using those Knitpro acrylic ones, and they are so much easier on my hands.

The moss stitch is looking scrappy, but I think it will even out with a bit of steaming.

No photos of Bea yet. We took about half a dozen on Sunday evening, but it's just tonight when I've had a look at them I see that I should have straightened out the front bottom edge! So next weekend, hopefully!